In a wide-ranging series of videos now available on the Daily Post website, critics claim that their homes, green space and even their football club are being blighted by the bid. But Mr Elstone is adamant that the regeneration of Kirkby and developing a close relationship with its neighbours is a massive part of what the self-styled People’s Club hopes to achieve.

The club is also sure that most people in Kirkby understand what they want to do and are eager to work with Everton to revolutionise the town. He said: “We have always been open and have talked in enormous detail about what is planned.”

But the message he returns to as the inquiry looms is the pressing need to move to ensure Everton can grow.

He said: “Kirkby is a stadium that’s accessible and that delivers the scale that we need, and it’s a stadium of the highest quality.

“The issue of alternatives is that this club has been looking for an alternative or to redevelop Goodison Park for probably a dozen years.

“These options have not come to fruition because they’re not feasible, deliverable and most of all they’re not affordable.

“And the fact is that there is probably not a football club in the world that could fund a new stadium development from scratch without help from the public or private sector. And that’s what this plan comes with – significant financial uplift.”

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